A little man who became big in the Kingdom of God.

Featuring the Art of Henry Martin

Presented by

Sermons 4 Kids

One day, Jesus went to visit the city of Jericho.

The people of Jericho were a very sad people. Why were they sad? They were sad because they had to

pay taxes … and their taxes were very high.

The reason their taxes were so high was that there was a dishonest tax collector in the city.

The tax collector’s name was Zacchaeus.

Zacchaeus would always collect more tax than people owed.

He would give part of the money to the Roman government and keep the rest for himself!

Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was coming to Jericho. He wanted to see Jesus, but he was so short that he could not see above the heads of the people who crowded around Jesus.

He saw a Sycamore tree nearby and decided to climb the tree so that he could see Jesus.

He climbed…

And climbed…

And climbed…

And climbed…

And climbed…

And climbed…

And climbed…

And climbed…

Until finally, he was perched high in the top of the tree!

When Jesus passed by, he looked up in the Sycamore tree and saw Zacchaeus.

“Zacchaeus, you come down,” Jesus said. “I am going to your house today.”

Zacchaeus climbed down from the tree as fast as he could.

Jesus went with Zacchaeus to his house and had dinner with him.

Some of the people were very angry with Jesus because he went to the home of Zacchaeus.

But once Jesus was in his home, Zacchaeus changed.

He told Jesus that he would give half of his money to the poor -- and if he had cheated anyone -- he would pay them back. He promised to repay them four times the amount he had stolen.

That day a lot of people in Jericho were much richer -- and much, much happier.

Zacchaeus was happy too!

Jesus had changed his life!

© 2004 by Henry Martin and Sermons 4 Kids All rights reserved.